The Tribune
TUESDAY, MARCH 11 2025 | VOL. 44 | ISSUE 21
Published by the SPT, a student society of McGill University
FEATURE
SPORTS
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OFF THE BOARD
Know Your Coach: Rachèle Béliveau
Under the neon lights: The paradox of Montreal’s nightlife
My thoughts on femininity as a so-called 900-pound grizzly bear
PG. 15
PGS. 8-9
PG. 5
(Ruby Reimer / The Tribune) Tribune)
Add Gerts to your list of on-campus go-tos
PG. 13
‘Little Burgundy – Evolving Montreal’ tells the story of a neighbourhood through the lens of Black resilience
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Photographer Andrew Jackson challenges mainstream perceptions of racialized spaces
Hannah Nobile Photo Editor
W
hen British-Canadian photographer Andrew Jackson first visited Montreal, he set out to find the city’s Black spaces. His search led him to the neighbourhood of Little Burgundy, formerly known as Saint-Antoine, where he encountered a paradox: Why is Little Burgundy considered a
Black space when only 11 per cent of its residents are Black? The answer: An ongoing history of gentrification displacing what was once a thriving Black neighbourhood. In the 19th century, Little Burgundy emerged as the home of Montreal’s most prominent English-speaking Black community. The city attracted Black workers from across North America and the Caribbean for employment within the expanding Canadian railway industry that prospered off the exploitation of low-wage
labour. Home to 90 per cent of the city’s Black population, Little Burgundy flourished with cornerstone cultural institutions and activist groups. But from the 1960s onward, city plans for urban renewal tore the neighbourhood apart. Residents and organizations were expropriated while homes and Black-owned businesses were demolished. By 1996, a gentrified Little Burgundy housed a dwindling two per cent of the city’s Black population—leaving behind a gutted community. PG. 11
EDITORIAL Censorship of genocide is Recap: SSMU referendum and executive election voting period inherently anti-education The Tribune extended after quorum fails Editorial Board NEWS
President Taylor attributes low turnout to voting period overlap with reading week Eliza Lee News Editor
O
n March 7, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) delayed the closure of polls for the 2025 Winter Referendum and Executive Election for another week, as just 8.8 per cent of members voted, falling significantly short of the 15 per cent quorum.
Polls were initially slated to close on March 7 at 5:30 p.m. but will now close on March 14 at the same time. In a written statement to The Tribune, SSMU President Dymetri Taylor expressed disappointment that quorum was not met, but noted that the voting period’s overlap with Winter Reading Break from March 3 to 7 could have been a cause PG. 4 for the low voter turnout.
Q
uebec Minister of Higher Education Pascale Déry has recently come under fire for her interference in course content at Dawson College, where she demanded that a French language course about Palestinian literature avoid sensitive topics. Shortly after, Déry made a similar intervention in a Palestinian literature course at Vanier College. The minister justified these investigations by claiming that the content was
“explosive” and that students deserve a “healthy and safe” environment. Déry’s interventions are not unlike McGill’s own actions towards rejecting discussion of Palestine in classrooms, the exclusion of the word “Palestine” or “genocide” in the university’s email communications with the student body, and the Post Graduate Students’ Society (PGSS)’s removal of words such as “Gaza” and “genocide” from their motions of solidarity with PalPG.5 estine.